Emily Mortimer finally has reason to cheer

Sir John Mortimer's memorial service, which, Mandrake reported yesterday, is to be held at Southwark Cathedral on Nov 17, promises to be an even jollier celebration than I had predicted. Emily Mortimer, his 37-year-old daughter, is expecting a baby.

Emily MortimerPhoto: Getty Images

Tim Walker

9:58PM BST 15 Sep 2009

The actress, who has written movingly about how much she misses the author of Rumpole of the Bailey, was proudly showing off her bump at a party hosted by Grey Goose vodka. "Both my sisters, Emily and Rosie, are pregnant," says Jeremy Mortimer. "It's rather lovely, really. They are both expecting in January."

Emily, who is married to the actor Alessandro Nivola, gave birth to their first child, Samuel, in 2003.

Burning question

Cherie Blair, who complains about how little time her husband is able to spend with her these days, is not afraid to embarrass the former prime minister.

Pointing to a photograph of her and Tony Blair which she has hung on the wall of her office in London, she says: "This is an early picture of us in Hong Kong when Tony was a junior politician. We'd gone out on a boat and Tony, being typically British, got badly burnt legs.

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"The next day, we were invited to tour a printer factory and Tony's legs were so painful that he couldn't stand still and kept hopping from foot to foot. I was fascinated by this factory and Tony kept saying to me: 'Stop asking questions, we've got to keep moving.' I think the Chinese found us very odd."

They're not the only ones.

Purnell's big tent

After quitting as Gordon Brown's work and pensions secretary in June, James Purnell has spent the weekend under canvas on the Isle of Wight.

He has not, however, fallen on hard times. The 39-year-old MP camped along with 30,000 others at the Bestival music festival with his girlfriend, Sophie Sutcliffe, 27, to enjoy performances by the likes of Lily Allen. He even shunned the option to upgrade to a more comfortable yurt in the "boutique camping" field, preferring a basic tent. That's even more spartan than Rio Ferdinand's holiday. I reported that he had spent part of it in a caravan in Wales.